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William Blake

like_2_play_football — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:47:15 CDT

William Blake

By Alyne Desgranges

William Blake was born on November 28, 1757 in London England. Blake was home schooled by his mother and not sent to schooll because of his headstrong temperament but instead his parents had enrolled him into art class. At the age of 12, Blake begin to write his first poems. In 1778, Blake attended the Royal Academy in Old Somerset House near the Strand. In 1780, while walking towards Basire's shop in Great Queen Street, Blake was swept up by a rampaging mob. On August 18,1782 he married Catherine Boucher, who helped him with his illuminated works and kept his spirits up through the hard times. Blake's most famous poem, 'The Tyger,' was part of the Song of Innocence, which was published in 1794. Blake died on August 12, 1827.

Blake was influenced by the world that he grew up in. His poems and engravings were done about the things that surrounded him and that he saw daily in the 18th century England. His poems are asking questions about nature, God, and life its self. With everything that Blake was seeing through his own eyes is what had influenced him in writing poems or engraving of art.

Blake showed the 18th century England in his works by talking about or painting things that was happening during this time period. 'The Tyger' and 'The Lamb' are both about good and evil; life and death; weak and strong; and peace and scary things. In the 18th century there was a war going on and Blake wrote the two poems from above to represent what was happening.

The 18th century work of William Blake has influenced many of the newer poets. Matthew Gilbert was greatly influenced by
Blake and for this Gilbert created a webpage just for him. This webpage is also used to help those studying Blake. It helps those people out by haveing a lot of information on Blake and haveing sources and links to other sites that have information about Blake.

Blake has influenced art works today by allowing the artist to use what they see around them in their works. He thought that if you use what is around you in your works then it would be more appealing to the people that was reading, listening to it, or looking at it. A poem, picture, or song that is about what the artist sees in their daily life is able to be appreacated better because the viewer would be able to relate to what the artist is trying to say.

The Tyger is describing how a tiger should look and that everyone should be afraid of them. The first stanza says that what person or thing could be scarier than a tiger. In the second stanza it says that who would want to seize the fire that burns in a tiger's eye which causes fear in everything else. The third stanza states that when a tiger is being developed it is being made to be fierce and scary to everyone else around it. In the fourth stanza it is asking how hot the fire was that created the tiger's brain. In the fifth stanza it is saying that when it rained God must have looked down at the tiger and smiled at his wonderful creation. In the final stanza it is saying the same thing that the first one said.

The Lamb

Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'ver the mead;
Gave thee clothing wooly bright;
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb;
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.

The Lamb is about a lamb who does not know who made it. The first stanza is asking the lamb who made it, gave it food, made its wool to be so soft, and gave it a very tender voice that made the angels rejoice. In the last stanza it is saying that the writer will tell it who made it and himself. That person is God. This stanza is also saying that God blessed the Lamb for it is a good, kind hearted creature that is friendly to mankind.

Work Cited

"William Blake (1757-1827). http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wblake.htm. 5 May 2007

http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SIE/42/color_Tyger.html. 5 May 2007

"William Blake". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake. 5 May 2007

http://williamblake.generative.com/home/home_main.html. 5 May 2007

Home

JodyM — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:42:07 CDT

Introduction to Literature: Intertextuality

This semester, my students have been studying intertextuality in literature and applying it to the works they read. This wiki presents their final project for LIT 2100. Before taking a look at their projects, however, visitors might want to read this short introduction to intertextuality.

Jody Malcolm
University of West Florida

Julia Kristeva, a French writer and literary critic, coined the term intertextuality in the 1960’s. The use of this term has had many implications for the study and reading of literature:

It included the idea of heteroglossia, the idea that many voices, not just the author’s voice, contribute to the production of literature.

Thus, developments in history, culture, science, politics—any discipline or institution that influences us—also influence the arts. For example, recent developments in technology have given rise to a genre known as “cyberlit”; I expect soon also to see a greater influx of novels based on cloning, genetics, and mind alteration because of the developments in science and medicine.

Included also in intertextual analysis are the author’s personal experiences. Before this time, literature was mainly thought of as a “work of art” within scholarly and academic circles and only its “formal aspects,” such as plot, characterization, etc., were considered valid elements for analysis.

However, intertextuality takes into consideration that literature is not created in a vacuum, that its production is a function of the zeitgeist, or spirit of the times in which is was written. Let’s examine how the zeitgeist has influenced the war-film genre:

World War II films were more idealistic in their portrayal of war. Our stars were people like John Wayne and Gregory Peck who were always strong and right—just as was the perception of our country and its involvement in the war. Bloodshed and suffering were rarely shown—at least realistically.

Vietnam films were more realistic in their portrayal of war. Films such as Apocalypse Now, The Deerhunter, and Platoon explicitly illustrated the human costs of war and the ambiguity many felt about our participation.

The Transitional War Period—I don’t know what else to call it—again showed the horrors of war in films such as Saving Private Ryan and Once Were Soldiers, but tended to focus on the camaraderie of the troops instead of the isolation and alienation shown in Vietnam war era film.

The Gulf War Film—Three Kings, specifically—illustrates a more ironic hero, one who is out for personal gain rather than patriotic glory, but who also possesses a sense of justice while even working outside of the military system to which he belongs. I read recently that an Iraqi war film is already being planned, a move which is highly unusual since most war films are made after a conflict has ended. Why do you suppose that a movie such as this could be problematic?

Intertext also does not distinguish among forms of “text.” All forms of art and communications articulate text, thus advertising, the visual arts, film, music—even cartoons—are valid forms of analysis simply because they have an effect on the audience. Furthermore, these effects have a cumulative effect on the audience and the genres influence and are influenced by one another.

Edgar Allen Poe

ashes1155 — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:36:57 CDT

Edgar Allen Poe
By Ashley Pertle

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Before the age of three Poe became an orphan and was fostered by John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia. Poe attended the University of Virginia but was forced to withdraw when Mr. Allan refused to pay Poe’s gambling debts. On May 26, 1827 Poe enlisted in the United States Army under the name Edgar A. Perry. Eventually, he moved into the home of his aunt, Maria Clemm and her daughter, and began writing prose tales. On May 16, 1936 Poe married his cousin Virginia Clemm in Richmond. He edited literary journals in Philadelphia and New York and began to establish himself as a poet and a short-story writer. Sadly, Poe’s wife passed away on January 30, 1847 from tuberculosis. After her death, Poe’s life-long struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened. Soon alcohol altered his personality and he developed a reputation of intemperateness. Poe was found on October 3, 1849 in a state of semi- consciousness. Four days later he passed away. Although there are many theories, Poe’s death remains a mystery.

Poe was involved in the American Romantic Movement, which took place in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century. “In the United States romanticism had philosophic expression in transcendentalism, notably in the works of Emerson and Thoreau(Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).” Art of this period focused on intuition, and emotion rather than rational approaches to form. Some may describe the period as anticlassicism, a reaction against neoclassicism.

Early on in his career, Poe’s poetry was very imitative. His inspiration was drawn from the works of Milton, Shakespeare, Thomas Moore, and above all Byron. Poe’s first three books were collections of poems: Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems (1829) and Poems (1831). Unfortunately, his books were not as successful as he anticipated. Poe needed a new source of inspiration, his brother. William Henry Leonard Poe achieved minor success in publishing his stories. Around 1931, Edgar decided to experiment in writing fiction, and found a remarkable talent for it. Throughout time, Edgar discovered he made more money writing stories, than writing poems. Poe discovered a way to incorporate his love for poetry by incorporating it into his tales, and also took the theory of poetry and applied it to his prose style.

“ Poe's upbringing in this regard appears to have been quite typical for his era(E.A. Poe society of Baltimore).” His foster-mother was a deeply religious woman. John Allan was less religious; however he still managed to adhere to such Christian virtues as hard work, and honesty, although his sense of charity and forgiveness were questionable. Although his family and community were strongly involved in church, some believed that Poe’s only religion was art.

Throughout the nineteenth century, many revolutionary artists emerged. In music, the three “Romantic composers”, consisted of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. “By the early 20th century, the sense that there had been a decisive break with the musical past led to the establishment of the 19th century as ‘The Romantic Era,’ and as such it is referred to in the standard encyclopedia of music (Wikimedia Foundation Inc.).” In the United States literature, Washington Irving wrote Legend of Sleepy Hollow(1819), a romantic gothic. A few years later James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans(1826). Known for its distinctive prose style, the book takes place during the French and Indian War. Visually John William Waterhouse used realistic technique to portray a neo-medieval woman drawn from Arthurian Romance in The Lady of Shalott (1888).

The Raven
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow will he leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

The Raven is one of Poe’s most famous works of literature. The poem was an immediate success and was translated into many different European languages. It is almost lyrical because of the internal rhyme scheme and the repetition of the refrain “never-more”. It is clear from the beginning that this poem is about death. The poem takes place at midnight in December- The last moment of the day and the last month of the year. Poe also talks about a “dying ember” in the fireplace and “its ghost upon the floor”. The theme of this story is an untimely death of a beautiful woman, but not just any woman, the inspiration of this poem was his wife, who had fallen ill. The Raven in the poem symbolizes darkness; it is a bird of ill-omen. Poe also chose the Raven because it is a non-reasoning creature. The raven is established as a symbol of the narrators’ sorrowful and eternal memory of his loved one. In this poem, Poe makes agony strangely interesting and intriguing. “The Raven” is not a typical tragedy; the speaker tries to act rationally in a situation where reason offers no defense.

A valentine

A Valentine For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
Search narrowly the lines!- they hold a treasure
Divine- a talisman- an amulet
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure-
The words- the syllables! Do not forget
The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor
And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
Which one might not undo without a sabre,
If one could merely comprehend the plot.
Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
Of poets, by poets- as the name is a poet's, too,
Its letters, although naturally lying
Like the knight Pinto- Mendez Ferdinando-
Still form a synonym for Truth- Cease trying!
You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do.

“The valentine” is an interesting poem by Poe. Not only is it written creatively but it provides a secret message decoded inside. You take the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, the third letter of the third line etc. Eventually the poem spells out Frances Sargent Osgood. It is said that Poe had strong feelings for this fellow poet, hence why he wrote a poem about her. The way Poe tricks his audience shows how dark he is.

Overall, Poe has had a profound affect on people all over the world. He has served for inspiration for writers and has intrigued many readers. Poe was best known for his tales of mystery and macabre. Some also say Poe is a contribution to the science fiction genre and detective fiction. An array of American authors were inspired by Poe’s work such as Walt Whitman, William Faulkner, and Herman Melville. Poe even inspired Alfred Hitchcock, a famous filmmaker. “It’s because I like Edgar Allan Poe’s stories that I began to make suspense films (Hitchcock).” Today, Poe is remembered as one of the first American writers to become a major figure in world literature and one who will continue to be known for decades to come.

Works cited
“Edgar Allen Poe.” Academy of American Poets. (1997-2007).
3 May, 2007 < http://www.poets.org/poet.php>.

“Edgar Allen Poe.” Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (3 May 2007).
3 May. 2007. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe>.

“Poe and religion.” The Edgar Allen Poe Society of Baltimore.(8 Jan, 2000).
3 May, 2007.< http://eapoe.org/index.htm>.
"Romanticism." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. ColumbiaUniversity Press.
04 May. 2007. < http://www.reference.com/browse/columbia/romantic>.

William Butler Yeats

mrw19 — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:05:14 CDT

William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 and died in 1939. Between those years, this Irishman accomplished a lot as a renowned poet. He was a founder and key writer for the Irish Literary Revival group along with friends J.M. Synge, Sean O’Casey, and Padraig Colum. His country’s Catholicism influenced William, though not embracing Catholicism he thought heavily on mysticism, spirituality, studied the Kabbalah (Ortodox Judaism), and more. William was a thinker from an early age as he read the mature works of Shakespeare and others. Yeats’ love for poetry gave him a unique voice for the protest of the Nationalistic policies of Ireland at the time. Yeats typically wrote poems about the Irish mythology, beauty of life (see The Wild Swans at Coole), other life topics, war (An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, Easter 1916), religion (The Second Coming), and his children. He was fascinated by shapes and uses a recurring motif in his poems, that of a gyre or spiral. Yeats also wrote plays, which was rewarded in 1923 with the Nobel Prize.

In 1989, Yeats met Maud Gonne, the woman he pined away for so long. She continuously denied him and married another man 1903. Maud fought for women’s rights and other politically charged movements, which Yeats took part in as well since she did. One such event they attended together was protests at the Queen’s Jubilee. Yeats even joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood for her. He was even arrested at one point. Maud starred in one of Yeats’ plays, “Cathleen Ni Houlihan”. Their relationship was tumultuous since she turned away Yeats’ marriage proposals on the basis he was not nationalist enough and not a Roman Catholic. His love for her influenced him to write many poems about her or poems that alluded to her. The most famous poem by Yeats about Maud was “No Second Troy”.

Yeats met a woman, Lady Augusta Gregory, and they became involved together with The Irish Literary Theatre, founded in 1899 in Dublin by the two. 5 years later it became known as the Abbey Theatre. Yeats popularity, though already high, increased since they Abbey Theatre went on to tour through the U.S., which sparked interest for Yeats in the Western Hemisphere. In 1911 Yeats met his soon to be wife, Georgie Hyde Lees, where they married in 1917. They had two children: Anne (born 1921) and Michael (1921), which Yeats wrote poems about as well. The Easter Uprising in 1916, as mentioned earlier, was influential for Yeats since many of his friends participated in the event. The Easter Uprising was a rebellion against British occupation in Ireland where the headquarters was in Dublin. This uprising marked the first time masses of Irish overtly supported the rebels. The leaders were executed after a secret trial. One of his proudest accomplishments was winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Arguably, however, Yeats has written his most influential works after his award. In his later years, Yeats was an influential figurehead for he was even elected on to the Irish Senate and served 6 years. At 73, on January 28, 1939 he died.

The “Second Coming” by Yeats displays his use of beautiful language and imagery.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Yeats uses his infamous gyre motif, here signifying the cycle of life that goes round and round. In this poem the life cycle is ripped at the core of the centre of the gyre, unleashing the second coming. Later in the poem, Yeats describes the Second Coming being the devil in the form of a Sphinx. The upcoming turmoil is described the above passage, as evident by the “anarchy’ loosed from the gyre, onto the world. Furthermore, Yeats says those who lack conviction are the best of them, since they are ignorant to the upcoming terror while those who are passionate are well aware of what’s coming. The poem embodies Yeats’ keen ability to write about the occult. While this is religious in nature, Yeats’ poems touch on such mystical supernatural forces, and his usage of allusion to the Sphinx trudging through the desert lends some added eeriness to the topic.

The poem “Easter 1916” discusses those revolutionaries that led the rebellion and ponders the aftermath.

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.

O when may it suffice?

That is Heaven's part, our part

To murmur name upon name,

As a mother names her child

When sleep at last has come

On limbs that had run wild.

What is it but nightfall?

No, no, not night but death;

Was it needless death after all?

For England may keep faith

For all that is done and said.

We know their dream; enough

To know they dreamed and are dead;

And what if excess of love

Bewildered them till they died?

I write it out in a verse -

MacDonagh and MacBride

And Connolly and Pearse

Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.

Yeats wonders if their deaths are significantly marked for they dreamed for a dream, which they died for. Yeats talks about murmuring their names, as he does in the latter lines of this passage, for remembrance. In the omitted first half of the poem, Yeats talks of these people as his friends for they were. But his friends died for their cause and wherever green is worn, they shall be remembered. The terrible beauty born refers to the increased move for independence. Though not successful, the English realized they could not occupy Ireland much longer. The 4 names Yeats cites are the 4 leaders of the rebellion. MacBride was Maud’s husband whom she married in 1903.

Works Cited

William Butler Yeats. Date accessed: 01 May 2007.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1923/yeats-bio.html

William Butler Yeats. Date Accessed: 02 May 2007.

http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/

The Easter Uprising. Date Accessed: 03 May 2007.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/easter_uprising.htm

The Second Coming. Date Accessed: 01 May 2007.

http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/780/

Maude Gonne. Date Accessed: 01 May 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Gonne

Easter, 1916. Date Accessed: 01 May 2007.

http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/779/

Stevie Smith

kmdwetpaint — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:11:26 CDT

Stevie Smith was born as Florence Margaret Smith on September 20, 1902 in Yorkshire, England. Her nick named was Peggy until her middle twenties. Her writer’s name was given to her by a friend that said that Florence reminded her of the jockey Steve Donaghue. Stevie Smith lived through both World Wars. She died when she was 68 years old from a brain tumor.
Forty years after her death, her works are still a mystery.How a dull secretary could "create such a provocative, vividly unique body of work."(British Writers). Her works of poetry contain hints of humor with disconcerting seriousness. Stevie Smith’s poetry best fit under the confessional poetry movement in the English modern period. However her poetry is unlike that of her contemporaries, Wright observed “One reason may be not only does she belong to no “school”—whether real or invented as they usually are—but her work is so completely different from anyone else’s…” Smith never attended a university. Ashamed of her lack of education, she took notes of every book that she read. Her readings ranged from history to literary criticism. The only area she did not read was contemporary poetry.

Her best known poem would be "Not Waving but Drowning". This poem not only influenced poetics but photographers as well. The picture at the right was taken by Robert Fib under the influence of "Not Waving but Drowning".This poem is a example of black humor. The man in this poem has drowned in the sea ironically while his friends believe that he was waving to them. There are three speakers in this poem: a narrator, the crowd, and the drowned man. The drowned man’s words state of his isolation from them, and his desperation in his trying to get help from them. The crowd tells us of the drowned man’s life as they know it, full of merriment. They believe that he got too cold in the water which caused his heart to give way. The drowned man replies that it was cold always, and he was much further out all of his life.

"Not Waving but Drowning"

Nobody heard him, the dead man,

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought

And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking

And now he's dead

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,

They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always

(Still the dead one lay moaning)

I was much too far out all my life

And not waving but drowning.

The last lines of the poem state the theme by "Oh, no no no, it was too cold always/(Still the dead one lay moaning)/I was much too far out all my life/ And not waving but drowning."(Smith 9-12) The man in his poem appears to be a joyful jolly man, but inside he is drowning in his own pretence. He never tells them of his sadness and his feeling of alienation. He fells that the world is too cold to him and he does not belong. His fries of fitting in by pretending to be what he expects everyone else wants him to be, but in the end fails. When he knows that he needs help in the end, his pretending of being someone else backfires; the people in his life misread his desperate signals. In this poem only the last stanza is the word "he" or "man" omitted, and in its' place is "one". This omission to the poem gives the reader a clue that this poem is not just about a man drowning, but can be applied to everyone that feels that they are alone in the world.
Another example of her unique poetry style is "Exeat". A sadistic use of the term friendship is used in this poem. Both poem examine the negative aspects of friendship. A example of an use of dramtic wording that is also comically is "Oh no, oh no, we are not yet friend enough."

"Exeat"

I remember the Roman Emperor, one of the cruelest of them,

Who used to visit for pleasure his poor prisoners cramped in dungeons,

So then they would beg him for death, and then he would say:

Oh no, oh no, we are not yet friends enough.

He meant they were not yet friends enough for him to give them death.

So I fancy my Muse says, when I wish to die:

Oh no, Oh no, we are not yet friends enough,

And Virtue also says:

We are not yet friends enough.

How can a poet commit suicide

When he is still not listening properly to his Muse,

Or a lover of Virtue when He is always putting her off until tomorrow?

Yet a time may come when a poet or any person

Having a long life behind him, pleasure and sorrow,

But feeble now and expensive to his country

And on the point of no longer being able to make a decision

May fancy Life comes to him with love and says:

We are friends enough now for me to give you death;

Then he may commit suicide, then

He may go.

Stevie Smith influence many people. After her dealth, her life has been made into two full-length biographies as well as a play. The play was latter adapted into a popular film named "Stevie" starring Glenda Jackson made in 1978. Her works continued to influence literature and art long after her dealth.

Works Cited

Fib, Robert. “Not-Waving-But-Drowning” 2 May 2007. www.flickr.com/photos.

Smith, Margaret. “Not Waving but Drowning”. Literature and the Writing Process. 7th Ed.Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. Pearson, 2005.517.
Smith, Stevie."Exeat" 2 May 2007.http://www.sanjeev.net. “Stevie Smith.” British Writers. LiteratureResearchCenter. InforTrac. University of West Florida Lib., 1 May. 2007. “Stevie Smith.” Contemporary Authors Online. LiteratureResearchCenter. InforTrac. University of West Florida Lib., 1 May. 2007. “Stevie Smith.” Dictionary of Literary Biography 20. LiteratureResearchCenter. InforTrac. University of West Florida Lib., 1 May. 2007.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

SSams — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:30:07 CDT

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the fi rst African American poet to garner national critical acclaim. Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, they are both natives of Kentucky. Both of his parents were slaves, his father escaped from slavery and joined the 55th Massachusetts Infantry and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. Dunbar wrote a large body of dialect, poems, essays, standard English poems, novels and short stories before he died at the age of 33. His work often addressed the difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts African Americans to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary contemporaries. Dunbar's inspiration write poetry came from his mother, he began reciting and writing poetry as early as the age of six.
In 1892 Dunbar published his first poem collection called Oak and Ivy. though his book was received well locally, Dunbar still had to work as an elevator operator to help pay off his debt to his publisher. He sold his book for a dollar to people who came in contact with his work, however, his reputation spread. In 1893, he was invited to recite at the world's fair, where he met Frederick Douglass, the re-owned abolitionist who rose from slavery to political and literary prominence in America. Douglass called Dunbar "the most promising young colored man in America."
Dunbar continued writing wit the help of Attorney Charles A. Thatcher and Psychiatrist Henry A. Tobey. Both of them were fans of Dunbar's work, they arranged for him to recite his poem at local libraries and literary gathering. Tobey and Thatcher also funded the publication of Dunbar's second book, Mayors and Minors. It was Dunbar's second book that propelled him to national fame. William Dean Howells, a novelist and widely respected literary critic who edited Harpers weekly, praised Dunbar's book in one of his weekly columns and launched Dunbar's name into the most respected literary circles across the country. A New York Publishing firm, Dodd Mean combined Dunbar's first two books and published them as lyrics of a lowly life. The book included an introduction by Howells. In 1897, Dunbar traveled to England to recite his works on the London literary circuit. He was nationally known across the Atlantic.
After returning to England, Dunbar married a young writer by the name of Alice Ruth Moore. She was a teacher and proponent if racial and gender equality. Dunbar took a job at the library of congress in Washington, D.C. He found the work tiresome, however, and it is believed the library's dust contributed to his worsening case of tuberculosis. He worked there for only a year before quiting to write and recite full time. In 1902, Dunbar and his wife separated. Depression stemming from the end of his marriage and declining health drove him to a dependence on alcohol, which further damaged his health. He continued to write, however, he ultimately produced twelve books of poetry, four books of short stories, a play and five novels. His work appeared in Harper's weekly, the Sunday's Evening Post , the Denver Post, Current Literature and a number of other Magazines and journals. Because Dunbar's steadily deteriorating health, he returned to his mothers home in Dayton, Ohio, where he died February 9, 1906.
Dunbar's work is known for its colorful language and use of dialect has inspired Americans all over the world with his style of writing. During his time he was one of the first African Americans poets able to cross over to the main stream audience, he was enormously popular during his life time.The two poems that I thought captured his true essence are "We Wear the Mask" and "Sympathy."

"We Wear the Mask"

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
In “We Wear Mask” Paul Laurence Dunbar conveys a message to his audience that you can’t judge a book by its cover nor judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. It has been done many times when a person may appear one way on the outside, but may be feeling the total opposite on the inside. He may be masking his true emotions with a false appearance. The African-American slaves of the early United States are a prime example of how emotions can be repressed. This group of people was treated with such disrespect and humiliation that it is understandable why they would mask their true thoughts and their emotions. To make their daily lives easier, they spoke and act the way their owners depicted. At one point their lives were taken from them. But, there were some things that could never be taken away from them: their inner strength and their spirituality. No matter how a slave was treated, how hard he had to work, or how little he had, he did have total control of his own thoughts and beliefs. Those things could never be taken from him.
This poem cries out with the hurt that African-Americans, throughout history, Suffered with. To be able to endure this daily persecution, these people had to draw on their own inner strength. When Dunbar wrote, “with torn and bleeding hearts we smile,” it is obvious of the agony felt and how a smile is sometimes worn in order to camouflage ones true emotions. A deep, religious faith was a saving grace to these people as a whole. One spirituality can carry them through even most dreadful situations. This idea is evident when Dunbar wrote, “we smile, but, O great Christ, our cries to thee from tortured souls arise.” When all else had failed, slaves could pray and feel that God had heard, their prayers answered, and their hearts relieved. We all have hide our emotions at one time or another. We put on false faces and pretend for many different reasons. One should learn from the past, live today to its fullest, and take off that mask so that its clear to see what lies ahead.

To complement the struggle of "We Wear the Mask," "Sympathy" conveys a message that even as simple as a bird, it is still in bondage and is trying to get free from its prison as well.

"Sympathy"

I know what the caged bird feels.
Ah me, when the sun is bright on the upland slopes,
when the wind blows soft through the springing grass
and the river floats like a sheet of glass,
when the first bird sings and the first bud ops,
and the faint perfume from its chalice steals.
I know what the caged bird feels.

I know why the caged bird beats his wing
till its blood is red on the cruel bars,
for he must fly back to his perch and cling
when he fain would be on the bow aswing.
And the blood still throbs in the old, old scars
and they pulse again with a keener sting.
I know why he beats his wing.

I know why the caged bird sings.
Ah, me, when its wings are bruised and its bosom sore.
It beats its bars and would be free.
It's not a carol of joy or glee,
but a prayer that it sends from its heart's deep core,
a plea that upward to heaven it flings.
I know why the caged bird sings.

In the first stanza, he uses the bird as a symbol of bondage. He explains about the various elements of nature, the bright sun, the shimmering river, the gentle breeze that a caged bird dreams of and expresses his sympathy for the bird. In the second stanza, he uses the bar of the jail which redden due the blood oozing from the birds scars. Dunbar expresses that "I know Why" this intensity of his feelings added a musical touch to the poem. In the third stanza, he explains that the cage bird sings not out of joy,but to remind us of the severe trauma its facing. Moreover this song is an ode to God which the bird flings toward heaven out of sheer frustration. I think this poems expressions, is just like "We Wear the Mask", full of feeling and emotion, telling a story on how good it will feel to be free.`Although Dunbar lived to be only 33 years old, he was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike.

Work cited
Dunbar, Paul L." We Wear the Mask." Literature and the writing process.Ed. Elizabeth McManhan,Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2002.499
Dunbar, Paul L."Sympathy." http://www.web-books.com/classics/Poetry/Anthology/Dunbar_PL/Sympathy.htm
Braxton, Joanne M.ed. The collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Charlottesville:up of Virginia, 1993.
Wagner, Jean. Black Poets of the United States: from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes. Kenneth Douglass, trans. Chicago: up of Chicago,1973.
Martin, Jay and Gossie H. Hudson,eds. The Paul Laurence Dunbar Reader. New York: Dodd, Mean,&Co.,1975

Oscar Wilde and the Victorian Period

WandaBreaux — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:39:19 CDT

By Wanda Breaux

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16th 1854. He was born in Ierland but grew up in Germany where he found that he had a natural flare for the dramatic. He was a very out spoken and witty person. He emerged as a poet/playwrite during The Victorian Period. This was the period of time from 1837 to 1901. When Queen Victoria was in power in britan. Wilde wrote poems and plays about tragedies and dispire. Such as the first act in his play "Salome". This was most likely due to the worsening tensions in this region leading up to the first world war. Other artists and poets of that same time frame also have sad undertones and depressed words. For Example, Matthew Arnold worte poem called "faith" around this same time period. The poem was aboutt he lose of christain beleifs much like the christian british movement of this time.

Oscar Wilde is refered to in a number of other contemorary art forms such as in the movie Spiderman 2 that recently was released. The hero Peter Parker's love plays the part of a lead heroin in one of Oscar Wilds most famous plays "The Important of Being Earnist". Coensadintally both of these stories are about them leading double lives. Another great example of intertextuality in todays society. Is that Wilde appears on the cover of The beatles' srg. pepper lonley hearts club band album. He can be seen above John Lennon's right shoulder. just click and scroll down until you see the album cover: Click here to see albulm cover.

THE GRAVE OF SHELLEY
by: Oscar Wilde
IKE burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed Gaunt cypress-trees stand round the sun-bleached stone; Here doth the little night-owl make her throne, And the slight lizard show his jewelled head. And, where the chaliced poppies flame to red, In the still chamber of yon pyramid Surely some Old-World Sphinx lurks darkly hid, Grim warder of this pleasaunce of the dead. Ah! sweet indeed to rest within the womb Of Earth, great mother of eternal sleep, But sweeter far for thee a restless tomb In the blue cavern of an echoing deep, Or where the tall ships founder in the gloom Against the rocks of some wave-shattered steep.
THEOCRITUS (A Villanelle)
by: Oscar Wilde
SINGER of Persephone! In the dim meadows desolate Dost thou remember Sicily? Still through the ivy flits the bee Where Amaryllis lies in state; O Singer of Persephone! Simætha calls on Hecate And hears the wild dogs at the gate; Dost thou remember Sicily? Still by the light and laughing sea Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate; O Singer of Persephone! And still in boyish rivalry Young Daphnis challenges his mate; Dost thou remember Sicily? Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee, For thee the jocund shepherds wait; O Singer of Persephone! Dost thou remember Sicily?

This first poem makes me sad it makes me think about death and how loney it is in a grave yard all alone. This is by far one of his more gothic poems. The one on the rights is more of an upbeat diddy. The way the rhyem scyeme flows together and everything. Almost as if you could sing it.

Works Sited:
I got my first Poem from:
http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/the_grave_of_shelley.html
The second Poem was from:
http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/theocritus.html
and my information on Wilde was from:
http://www.cmgworldwide.com/historic/wilde/

The Honorable Life of Alfred, Lord Tennyson

olg1 — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:37:00 CDT

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Cello+Journey+#13

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born on August 5,1809 in Lincolnshire. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met one of his dearest friends, Arthur Hallam. Later in his life, after Arthur’s death, Tennyson wrote one of his most famous poems, In Memoriam, in honor of his friend’s death. The first book of Tennyson’s poems was published in 1833. It was so despised by its readers that Tennyson stopped writing for almost ten years. However, when he started writing again and published Poems, Vol. II, his reputation as a writer was restored and he soon became one of the most popular poets of his time, which was the Victorian Period.
One of the main things that contributed to the popularity of Tennyson was his closeness to Queen Victoria, her family, and other royalty. On separate occasions, Tennyson wrote and dedicated poems to Princess Alexandra, Lord Nelson, and Prince Consort. He was also summoned by Queen Victoria many times. Some of the more widely-read works included in this book were "Morte d’Arthur," "Ulysses," and "Lady of Shalott." In 1836, Tennyson married the woman he had long adored named Emily Sellwood. Some of his best works were written after 1869 when Tennyson was happily married with a family.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson died October6, 1892 and was buried in the Poets’ Corner Westminster Abbey. Today, he is commonly referred to as the most popular poet of the Victorian Era. He had the courage to expand the boundaries of poets of his time by make his poetry enjoyable for his audience. At the same time, he encouraged patriotism and involved current social affairs. This is what gained the love of his readers and his noble title of poet laureate in 1850.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Works
One of Tennyson’s most famous poems is "The Charge of the Light Brigade." This is the perfect portrayal of Tennyson’s love of patriotism. He beautifully tells the story of the noble six hundred. In his last stanza he says, "When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wonder’d. Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!" Here, he tells the story of the brave men who rode undaunted into the "valley of Death" and into "the mouth of hell." Although there was a "cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them," they rode on. The reader cannot help but respect the brave men who were in this battle. Below, I have included an attachment with an artist's portrayal of "The Charge of the Light Brigade." You might also find some of the facts of the the battle interesting as well.

One of Tennyson's more beautiful and tranquil poems is "The Dying Swan." Intertext could definitely be found in relation to Camille, Saint-Sains', "The Swan." Both works, poem and song, are tranquil and offer a tribute of respect to the beautiful animal. Actually, if you listen to the song while you read the poem, they are almost the same in length. In several parts, they are even dramatic in the same area. Although Saint-Sains' may not have had Tennyson's poem in mind when he wrote his "The Swan," Tennyson definitely was thinking musically when he wrote his poem. Throughout the poem, he refers to music. Examples are "loudly did lament," "death hymn," "jubilant voice," "carol free and bold," and "cymbals, and harps of gold." I would suggest listening to Saint-Sains' piece while reading Tennyson's. The attachment I have included below shows a video of swans on a lake while the music is being played. The visual, the music, and the words of Tennyson's poem make a beautiful medley and tribute to the elegant animal.
Edmond Gosse put it best when he said, "What this is cannot be easily defined; it consists, perhaps, in the beauty of the atmosphere which Tennyson contrives to cast around his work, molding it in the blue mystery of twilight, in the opaline haze of sunset: this atmosphere, suffused over his poetry with inestimable skill and with a tact rarely at fault, produces an almost unfailing illusion or mirage of loveliness."

works cited: 1. online-literature.com/tennyson.
"Lord Alfred Tennyson."
2. http://home.att.net/~tennysonpoetry/links.htm
3. http://charon/sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/tennyson.html

Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance

AlisAnder — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:03:22 CDT

Langston Hughes has played a major role in American history. He was born on February 1, 1902 in Missouri. His life was not one filled with honey trees and roses. He led a difficult life in the mist of poverty and segregation. He began writing poetry at the age of 13 but his father believe that poetry was a waste of time and that Langston needed to work hard like a man to be successful. So his father shipped him off to Columbia University and paid for tuition. Langston’s father wanted his son to study Engineering, but that is not what Langston believed in. Langston believed in language and the art of poetry and literature so he dropped out of school and continued to write. One of Langston’s first poems was published in 1925 and was called “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and it goes a little something like this:

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I love this poem because it encompasses a history of culture and human existence; it is real and gives empowerment. I also love the way it flows and how punctuation and sentence structure is used. Langston Hughes is Brilliant! That is why I chose to write about the New Negro Movement.

The New Negro Movement can be translated as the Harlem renaissance, a movement Langston Hughes was a part of and truly believed in. The Harlem Renaissance movement took place during the 1920s and 1930s in and around Harlem, New York. According to Encarta Online Encyclopedia, the Harlem Renaissance, emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then faded in the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement, it was closely related to developments in African American music, theater, art, and politics.

This movement was the direct result of the oppression the African American people faced at this time in American history. However, African Americans were getting more affluent, better educated and started to move into better neighborhoods. They wanted a better life for their families and themselves. The movement encouraged a plethora of new music, art, theater, dance, and literature in the community. This was inspired by such leadership as Marcus Garvey and by the advocate group the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People. According to www. Theotherpages.org/poems, Claude McKay was one of the first black mainstream writers to have his work published. One of his poetry selections (In Bondage) is included below: I WOULD be wandering in distant fields

Where man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely,
And the old earth is kind, and ever yields
Her goodly gifts to all her children free;
Where life is fairer, lighter, less demanding,
And boys and girls have time and space for play
Before they come to years of understanding--
Somewhere I would be singing, far away.
For life is greater than the thousand wars
Men wage for it in their insatiate lust,
And will remain like the eternal stars,
When all that shines to-day is drift and dust
But I am bound with you in your mean graves,
O black men, simple slaves of ruthless slaves.

This painting Jeunesse, by Palmer Hayden is inspired by the Harlem renaissance movement. This painting celebrates jazz and freedom, a new life for African American culture. This painting is mixed with the poem above it, entitled, “In Bondage” by Claude McKay and it symbolizes wanting to be free and to get away. An idea that the painting embodies.

All in all, the work of Hughes can be seen in our world today, whether it is the way black culture has wrapped it self around art and expression or the simple resilience to do better as a community. Hughes died of cancer on May 22, 1967. His work is still revered by many and he will continue to inspire for generations to come. The Harlem renaissance holds a special place in the hearts and minds of those who lived it. The intertext for Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance movement is that even though the movement is not taking place today, it started a new generation of music culture and class in the black community that continues to inspire. A lot of people may not know it, but this era has contributed to their way of life.

Work Cited
"Harlem Renaissance," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com 1997-2007
A Guide to Harlem Renaissance Materials
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/harlem/harlem.html)
Theotherpages.org/poems Copyright (c) 1926 The Nation Company, L.P. 1995-2003 Poets' Corner Editorial Staff Painting by Palmer Hayden, Jeunesse

Charles Dickens and the Victorian Period

eds4 — Thu, 03 May 2007 23:58:04 CDT

Emery Shoemaker Professor Malcolm Literature 2100 4 May 2007 Charles Dickens and the Victorian Period Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His parents were Elizabeth nee Barrow and John Dickens. Charles Dickens grew up reading Henry Fielding, Daniel Defoe, and Oliver Goldsmith. Charles Dickens and his siblings played games that included reciting poetry, singing songs, and creating theatrical productions. In 1824 John Dickens was imprisoned for debt, and all of his family went with him except Charles who worked at Warren’s Shoe Blacking Factory at the age of 12 to help support the family. Later that year when his father was released, his father sent him to the Wellington House Academy in London from 1824-1827 which guided him into the field of writing. Dickens’ first book, Sketches by Boz was published in 1836. He also married Catherine Hogarth, and eventually had ten children. Dickens would have books published almost every year between 1836 and 1865. Dickens died June 9, 1970 from a cerebral hemorrhage (<http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/>). The Victorian Period was a period full of terrible working conditions and poverty. There was also over-crowded and inadequate housing. Along with everything there was also a high rate of disease and death. Child labor was very popular at the time because families could not survive if their children did not work so it was an absolute necessity that the children worked (<http://www.victorianweb.org/>). Charles Dickens obviously grew up in hard times considering he had to help support his family by getting a job and his dad was imprisoned for a short period. Charles Dickens grew up to be a very generous man, donating money when he could because he knew what it was like to not have money. Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is a good example of how the Victorian Period influenced his writing and how he viewed the society at the time (<http://dickensfordummies.homestead.com/>). Dickens contributed to the development of the English Novel (<classiclit.about.com/od/victorianliteratu/a/aa_victorian.htm>). The artwork of the time was pretty dark, and showed that the times were dark. The art also showed a struggle such as the Lady of Shalott who seemed to be held to the ground and unable to move very much. The Morte d’ Arthur image seems very sad; the people in the background are all mourning the death of someone. The time was a very sad and hard time to get through, and as shown in the art, some did not make it through the struggle (<://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/>). Charles Dickens wrote with the time, and showed comparisons in his novels that were similar to the period in which he was living. Dickens wrote novels with the same tones and moods as the art of the time. Dickens was one of the great writers of his time and is still one of the greatest writers of today. Works Cited Literature Made Simple: Dickens Made Simple. 6 January 2007. <http://dickensfordummies.homestead.com/>. Lombardi, Esther. About:Literature:Classic. 2007. <http://classiclit.about.com/od/victorianliteratu/a/aa_victorian.htm> Merriman, C.D.Jalic Inc. 2006. The Literature Network. < http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/>. Victorian Web, The. Retrieved April 30, 2007. <http://www.victorianweb.org/>. W.W. Norton and Company. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 2007.
<http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/>.

Henry David Thoreau and the Transcendentalist Movement

jsise — Thu, 03 May 2007 23:30:11 CDT

Biography

Henry David Thoreau was a great American author who excelled in poetry, prose, and philosophical reasoning. Born in 1817, Henry David Thoreau began his life in Concord, Massachusetts. Living in the picturesque countryside, Thoreau was intrigued by the magnitude of nature at a young age. After attending school at Concord Academy and Harvard, Thoreau channeled his efforts into his career as a schoolteacher as well as helping with the family business. Thoreau was labeled at a young age as an individual and an unconventional scholar, pioneering a new way of thinking. Along with poets Ralph Waldo Emerson, A. Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and George Ripley, Thoreau began meetings with this group, known as the Transcendentalist Club.

The Transcendentalist Movement

Pioneering ideas of freedom, religion, and spirituality, the Transcendentalist movement in Literature took its first steps. As a historical movement, Transcendentalism began in the mid 1830’s and lasted through the late a 1840’s, but its effects on American culture resonated for years and years after. The beginning of Transcendentalism as a whole was rooted in opposition to the Unitarian church. According to “An Overview of American Transcendentalism” by Martin Bickman, "Beginning as a quarrel within the Unitarian church, Transcendentalism's questioning of established cultural forms, its urge to reintegrate spirit and matter, its desire to turn ideas into concrete action developed a momentum of its own, spreading from the spheres of religion and education to literature, philosophy, and social reform. While Transcendentalism's ambivalence about any communal effort that would compromise individual integrity prevented it from creating lasting institutions, it helped set the terms for being an intellectual in America."

The Transcendentalist poets were a new generation of authors that sought to break away from the traditional way of thinking that was present during the time. During the period of Enlightenment in American History, new ways of rational thinking were presented and individual self-reliance was a newly talked about and acknowledged concept in society. The Transcendentalists embraced freedom, knowledge, truth, and social reform. Taking part in movements such as women’s rights and the abolitionist movement, Transcendentalists believed that every individual had divine inspiration. The movement is summed up perfectly by the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, a close friend of Thoreau, “We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds...A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men."

Effects and Influences of the Movement

The Transcendentalist Movement and ideas permeated into other areas of expression besides literature, as revolutionary ways of thinking took root. The Transcendentalist period was represented in artwork such as Regis Francois Gignoux’s “Indian Summer." Like Gignoux, during this time period many artists began painting landscape and nature in a realistic manner. The movement also had lasting impact on American culture and literature. Authors such as Sinclair Lewis and Robert Louis Stevenson, among others, were greatly influenced by Thoreau and the Transcendentalist movement as a whole.

A Brief Look at Thoreau's Works

The majority of Henry David Thoreau’s work that is studied today is prose, although the author considered himself a poet. From works on social ideas to praising nature, Thoreau was a master at his craft. A major compilation of Thoreau’s is “Walden,” a collection of many works. Walden Pond was a place where Thoreau spent two years in a small cottage “living deep and sucking out the marrow of all life.” Writing and devoting his time to nature, Thoreau created a detailed journal of all his time at Walden Pond. One passage in this compilation “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." “Walden” seeks to point out how important simplicity in life is, and Thoreau tried to steer away from materialistic goods. In "Walden" Thoreau says, "Our life is frittered away by detail." In regards to our lives, he also stresses that we need to, "Simplify, simplify, simplify."

Another prominent work of Thoreau’s is “Civil Disobedience.” This essay concentrates on individual responsibility and actions when government laws are wrong and unjust. The aggressive tone in which Thoreau wrote the essay has stirred emotions and action into many individuals that have experienced or have witnessed injustice in society. According to http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html , "Civil Disobedience” has more history than many suspect. In the 1940's it was read by the Danish resistance, in the 1950's it was cherished by people who opposed McCarthyism, in the 1960's it was influential in the struggle against South African apartheid, and in the 1970's it was discovered by a new generation of anti-war activists. The lesson learned from all this experience is that Thoreau's ideas really do work, just as he imagined they would.” Thoreau wrote this piece after he was put in jail for not paying his taxes, which he rebelled against because the money supported slavery. Thoreau asks individuals to speak out against injustices caused by governing power. These very ideas influenced the teachings of prominent figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. According to Gandhi, “His essay has been sanctified by suffering. Moreover, it is written for all time. Its incisive logic is unanswerable." It is evident that Thoreau and his works have had a lasting impact on literature and society.

Conclusion

Henry David Thoreau truly broke new ground in the literary and philosophical world. As an author he wrote masterfully, and as a philosopher he developed a sufficient moral code. He championed freedom and equality for all individuals. He influenced the thinking of authors, political figures, social activists, as well as many other individuals. He was a true individualist, and the world is a richer place because of his unique and masterful works. As a close friend of Thoreau’s, Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

"He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh; he drank no wine; he never knew the use of tobacco; and though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely no doubt for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature.... No truer American existed than Thoreau."

Works Cited

Bickman, Martin. "An Overview of American Transcendentalism." American Transcendentalism Web. 3 May 2007.
<http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ideas/definitionbickman.html>

"Henry David Thoreau." Academy of American Poets. May 3, 2007.
<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/601>

"Indian Summer by Regis Francois Gignoux." AllPosters.com. May 3, 2007
<http://www.allposters.com/-sp/-Posters_i831714_.htm>

McElroy, Wendy. "Henry Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience.'" July 30, 2005.
<http://thoreau.eserver.org/wendy.html>

"Outwardly Simple, and Inwardly Rich." Teekampagne. May 3, 2007
<http://www.teekampagne.de/en-en/1_2.html>

"Transcendentalists." May 3, 2007.
<http://www.transcendentalists.com/index.htm>

Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist Movement

jessbauer — Thu, 03 May 2007 22:47:26 CDT

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of fourteen Emerson was admitted to Harvard College and after graduating taught at his brother’s school for girls for a couple of years. Emerson entered the ministry in 1829 but shortly after resigned in 1832 after loosing faith in the Unitarian religion. Emerson drew influence from the Renaissance scholar, Michel de Montaigne’s essays which he read at an early age. After reading Montaigne’s essays Emerson lost his belief in a personal God and instead adopted the new ideas of God and one’s soul. Three years after resigning he, as well as other fellow transcendentalists, founded the Transcendental Club which came to serve as a center for the transcendental movement.

Transcendentalism got its start “as a reform movement in the Unitarian church, extending the views of William Ellery Channing on an indwelling God and the significance of intuitive thought” (Campbell). The movement came about in the nineteenth century in New England. Transcendentalists emphasize the basis of their religion and philosophy on principles relating to the soul. “For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains.” (Campbell) The basis of their philosophy protested culture and society at that point in time.

The influence of Emerson and the transcendentalist movement has impacted many aspects of culture. Charles Frazier’s novel “Cold Mountain,” which was adapted into a film starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, reveals such impact:

“In Charles Frazier's novel, Ada is the daughter of an unorthodox Christian preacher called Monroe, and they live on an unproductive farm near Cold Mountain where Monroe also exercises his ministry in a local church. The philosophy of Emerson is important to Monroe, and to Ada and Inman. Of particular importance is Emerson's essay, Self-Reliance (ABC).”

The movement expanded society’s knowledge on the concept of learning by explaining that learning was in fact, a process and once a process of learning was mastered, the brain could continue to use that process to learn further means of information. Transcendentalism also influenced society’s view of the human mind. Emerson has also influenced the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. Emerson was foremost a poet but had also mastered the art of prose. His essays, lectures, and journals are just as well known as his poetry and even more so influential.

During the time of the movement abolitionism was becoming more, and more of an issue. Emerson supported abolitionism and spoke freely of his support. The time also represented a strong cultural emphasis on religion; so when transcendentalists formulated new, controversial ideas on religion it enlightened masses to re-evaluate their culture as they knew it. America was a new country and new ideas were presenting themselves everywhere in culture.

Emerson published his first essay in September of 1836 titled Nature. The website, poets.org, describes Nature: “Emerson’s first book, Nature (1836), is perhaps the best expression of his Transcendentalism, the belief that everything in our world—even a drop of dew—is a microcosm of the universe.” The following excerpt from Emerson’s Nature demonstrates this statement:

“The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.”

In the passage Emerson touches on many transcendentalist ideals. He describes aspects of nature with the utmost respect and relates it back to human beings. He also touches on the ideology of how transcendentalists viewed the thought process and the belief that thinking and knowledge was inward based.

Another significant work is Emerson’s Self-Reliance. In the following excerpt Emerson asserts trusting one’s inner self:

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for always the inmost becomes the outmost — and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgement. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this.”

In the poem Emerson stresses the value of individuality and self-reliance. He instructs one to trust their instincts and to decide for themselves on matters.

Emerson continues to influence many and his literary legacy lives on.

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna M. "American Transcendentalism." Literary Movements. 15

June 2005. 2 May 2007. <http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/amtrans.htm>.

"Tumult and Peace on Cold Mountain." ABC. 2 May 2007

<http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s1037811.htm>.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson." Poets.Org. 3 May 2007

<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/201>.

"Emerson's Self Reliance." 3 May 2007

<http://www.youmeworks.com/selfreliance.html>.

Emerson, Ralph W. "Nature." Nature. 3 May 2007

<http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/natureemersona.html#Chapter%20I>.

Kenneth Rexroth

nh11 — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:51:31 CDT

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalism Movement

jessbauer — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:56:52 CDT

Louisa May Alcott

gigilinda87 — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:07:51 CDT

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown Pennsylvania to Amos Bronson and Abigail Alcott on November 29 1832. Bronson Alcott was a transcendental philosopher and teacher, some of his friends included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Theodore Parker. These poets greatly influenced Louisa in everyday life, as many of them were her teachers. Feeling responsible for her family’s financial troubles, Alcott began working odd jobs in 1849 hating these jobs she began writing and published her first poem called “Sunlight” in 1852. Creating several different pseudonyms Alcott began her writing career. Her best-known work “Little Women” was based on her family and written in the Alcott home pictured on the right.

A known abolitionist and suffragette, Alcott’s works would best be classified as a part of the American Romanticism movement. Some of her works include: Little Men, Jo’s Boys, Flower Fables, An Old Fashioned Girl, The Inheritance, Eight Cousins and A Long Fatal Love Chase. Louisa May Alcott died on March 6th 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts just two days after her father.
American Romanticism is generally defined as the pre-civil war America from 1830 to 1860. It was a movement that emphasized a sentimental nature, individualism, desire-and-loss, rebellion and equality. The American Romanticism was not the only “Ziet Geist” that influenced Alcott. Although the primary influence for her works about families the Civil War, abolitionist and suffrage movements also influenced Alcott’s work. In “Little Women” for example the Civil War and its toll on the home life influence the entire March Family.

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

"It's so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.

"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have lots of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.

"We've got father and mother, and each other, anyhow,” said Beth, contentedly, from her corner.

The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly?

"We haven't got father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never, "but each silently added it, thinking of father far away, where the fighting was.

Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, "You know the reason mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas, was because it's going to be a hard winter for every one; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don't;" and Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.

The character of Josephine March is also a free thinker who believes in equality. Jo March directly reflects Louisa May Alcott’s own beliefs and interest in regards to suffrage and women’s rights by portraying Jo as a tomboy who wants to fight with the men.

"Really, girls, you are both to be blamed," said Meg, beginning to lecture in her elder-sisterly fashion. "You are old enough to leave off boyish tricks, and to behave better, Josephine. It didn't matter so much when you were a little girl; but now you are so tall, and turn up your hair, you should remember that you are a young lady."

"I'm not! And if turning up my hair makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty," cried Jo, pulling off her net, and shaking down a chestnut mane. "I hate to think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster! It's bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys' games and work and manners! I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy; and it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay at home and knit, like a poky old woman!" And Jo shook the blue army sock till the needles rattled like castanets, and her ball bounded across the room.

"Poor Jo! It's too bad, but it can't be helped. So you must try to be contented with making your name boyish, and playing brother to us girls," said Beth, stroking the rough head at her knee with a hand that all the dishwashing and dusting in the world could not make ungentle in its touch.

Alcott was the first American writer to portray a juvenile heroine as an individual with her own thoughts, feelings and struggles instead of the stereotyped angel. The ways in which she wrote and the characters that she created in her novels are a direct reflection of the “Ziest Geist” of the time. A combination of the romantic and idealistic Alcott is a masterful writer who reflected her own original ideas in her writings.

Works Cited:

Alcott, Louisa May. “Little Women.” Barnes&Noble. May 3, 2007 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781566194754&displayonly=EXC&z=y#EXC

“L(ouisa) M(ay) Alcott (1832-1888)-psuedonyms: A. Barnard, Flora Fairfield.”May 3, 2007 http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lmalcott.htm

Marsh, Ellen. “Louisa May Alcott’s Long-Lost Novel.” May 3, 2007 http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1997-07/alcott.html .

Meriman, C.D. “Louisa May Alcott.” The Literature Network. May 3, 2007http://www.online-literature.com/alcott/ .

“Romanticism.” Wikipedia. May 3, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism .

Pablo Neruda

kmdwetpaint — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 07:17:31 CDT

Although Pablo Neruda is not as well known in the United States in contrast to the rest of the world, he has made an outstanding difference in the literary world with his poems. Originally born in Parral, Chile he was inspired by the likes of his mother, teachers, fellow poets (Federico Garcia Lorca, Gabriela Mistral, and many more throughout his lifetime), as well as the numerous women he had encounters with throughout his life. Neruda had an early start on poetry by age ten and eventually started publishing his poems and articles in the newspapers. This eventually led to an explosion of inspiration of over 50 books of poetry throughout his lifetime. He used many different styles in his poetry, as noted by Schade: “there are so many Nerudas, so many different styles of writing, that it is not easy to break down and analyze it” (Schade). One cannot exactly pinpoint the actual movement Neruda was involved in since he uses so many different styles in his writing. Among the movements which Neruda drew from are
Ø the Symbolist movement,
Ø the Romanticist Movement,
Ø the Surrealist Movement,
Ø the Hispanic Modernismo Movement.

The zeit geist was very pronounced at this point in time, from the early 1900’s to the 1940’s. Great minds came crashing down into this time period with ambitions to change the world or culture through the arts. Literature and Art was a major way as social commentary towards the governments they wanted to oppose. Social commentary in their art was very common especially for the likes of Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and many other cultural artists. While these artists were engrossed in their own works, the world was crumbling to shambles with World War I and II, the Spanish Civil War, Communism, The Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin, and corruption from their own countries.

Neruda himself had very many influences and has been very influential to many people. When Neruda started his career at a very young age his family tried to discourage him and tell him that his poetic efforts would not lead to anything. He was started to get discouraged and decided to become a French teacher but at age 12 he met the Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral who told him not to give up and pursue his poetry. Of course there were many poets he was influenced by, from Ruben Dario to Arthur Rimbaud. Although no on had such a heavy influence on Neruda than Walt Whitman. In a speech given by Neruda in 1972 he says “I, a poet who writes in Spanish, learned more from Walt Whitman than from Cervantes.”

In his 1930’s Neruda traveled to Spain and he found himself amongst many poets who eventually became his friends. They admired his work and they all inspired each other. Among the pack was “Garcia Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, and Miguel Hernandez.” However, tragedy stuck in 1936 when civil war broke out in Spain and his close poetic comrade Garcia Lorca was killed by The Nationalists. The sudden death of Garcia Lorca and his devotion to serving the Communist Party with Alberti and Hernandez heavily influenced him and pushed him to write “Heart of Spain”, another book of poets.

The many women in his life were always an inspiration for him as he has written book after book of love poems such as: “Twenty Love Poems and a Song Despair” and “One-Hundred Love Poems”. His journey in Peru to see Macchu Picchu (the home of the ruined Incan Empire) also sparked another innovative book of poems having to do with this journey as he contemplates what he observed. He called this book “General Songs”. Neruda has often been compared to the painter, Picasso because “he tended to present distorted images, giving a grotesque yet powerful effect to this collection.” He has been enamored, loved and taken in by so many of his fellow poets and people around the world for his heartfelt, love, and feeling in his poetry. His efforts finally proved successful in 1971 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. Neruda’s love poems are internationally known because of the most heartfelt passion experienced when one read his love poems. One of his love poems is called Sonnet XII:

Full woman, fleshly apple, hot moon,

thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light,
what obscure brilliance opens between your columns?
What ancient night does a man touch with his senses? Loving is a journey with water and with stars,
with smothered air and abrupt storms of flour:
loving is a clash of lightning-bolts
and two bodies defeated by a single drop of honey. Kiss by kiss I move across your small infinity,
your borders, your rivers, your tiny villages,
and the genital fire transformed into delight runs through the narrow pathways of the blood
until it plunges down, like a dark carnation,
until it is and is no more than a flash in the night.
The feeling is so great in this poem that while reading through it the heart starts to beat madly as if one was in love. This is the closest description we will ever get to being in love. In this poem he is conveying that this goddess of a woman he gets to have and educating the audience on the mysteries of how to love someone works. He uses a lot of light and dark imagery as emotions and feelings. In the second stanza “loving is a journey with water and with stars, with smothered air and abrupt storms of flour: loving is a clash of lightning-bolts and two bodies defeated by a single drop of honey” he uses the natural environment around us to symbolize how love is brought into play by two people. Love is a dark harsh thing a first but submit to their feelings from “onesingle drop of honey”. This poem not only shows his excellent use of imagery as well as his use of nature as emotions. This is a wonderful love poem the captures the height of feelings and emotions while comparing it to the world.

In contrast to his love poems, “The Heights of Macchu Picchu” has a death feel of ill destruction and sorrow. These two poems have one thing in common that they both exude several feelings. These two poems are very different in the overall message but this shows the great versatility Neruda shows through his poems.

The Heights of Macchu Picchu:
Arise to birth with me, my brother.
Give me your hand out of the depths
sown by your sorrows.
You will not return from these stone fastnesses.
You will not emerge from subterranean time.
Your rasping voice will not come back,
nor your pierced eyes rise from their sockets.

Look at me from the depths of the earth,
tiller of fields, weaver, reticent shepherd,
groom of totemic guanacos,
mason high on your treacherous scaffolding,
iceman of Andean tears,
jeweler with crushed fingers,
farmer anxious among his seedlings,
potter wasted among his clays--
bring to the cup of this new life
your ancient buried sorrows.
Show me your blood and your furrow;
say to me: here I was scourged
because a gem was dull or because the earth
failed to give up in time its tithe of corn or stone.
Point out to me the rock on which you stumbled,
the wood they used to crucify your body.
Strike the old flints
to kindle ancient lamps, light up the whips
glued to your wounds throughout the centuries
and light the axes gleaming with your blood.

I come to speak for your dead mouths.

Throughout the earth
let dead lips congregate,
out of the depths spin this long night to me
as if I rode at anchor here with you.

And tell me everything, tell chain by chain,
and link by link, and step by step;
sharpen the knives you kept hidden away,
thrust them into my breast, into my hands,
like a torrent of sunbursts,
an Amazon of buried jaguars,
and leave me cry: hours, days and years,
blind ages, stellar centuries.

And give me silence, give me water, hope.

Give me the struggle, the iron, the volcanoes.

Let bodies cling like magnets to my body.

Come quickly to my veins and to my mouth.

Speak through my speech, and through my blood.

Neruda’s use of imagery and symbolism is very evident throughout this poem. To give the reader a destructive feeling about what had taken place on this sacred land, Neruda uses horrifying words and phrases such as: “here I was scourged” and “the light axes gleaming with your blood”. He wants the reader to sympathize, feel contempt, cry, and mourn for the loss of this beautiful nation. In this poem the speaker, sees himself through his ancestors of the Incan empire. He is asking the Incas to look at him from the grounds they were buried in to give him a glimmer of hope that they can once again be revived through their descendants, like the speaker. He tries to find some reason these people were murdered. In the line “here I was scourged because the earth failed to give up in time its tithe of corn or stone. Point out the rock you stumbled, the wood the used to crucify your body”, he finally finds a little bit of clarity as to what happened. He now understands that they were completely obliterated because of the gold, jewels, and fertile lands they possessed. While he realizes the reason of their untimely fall he also empathizes with the lost souls that were brutally murdered. He wants to care for this generation of greatness that was once so viciously destroyed. He is there to tell them that he feels their pain and that he was with them when they were obliterated. He wants to make the Inca proud as well as his ancestors by being himself.

Neruda is an international known poet for his use of words that exude so much feeling and emotion, which is not the typical style of writing poetry. Neruda learns from other poets and movements and takes some influences from that and different and incorporates them into his own works of art. He is anything but the typical poet and even though he is no longer with us today he continues to stir the hearts of millions of people who are blessed with the gift of reading his works.

Works Cited
Duran, Manuel E. “Pablo Neruda.” Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-5187.
Goforth, Ray. “The Heights of Macchu Picchu”. 10 April 2006 http://www.mindspring.com/`altafb/pablo.txt.
Mitchell, Steven. “Sonnet XII”. 1 May 2006 <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfa/poemquot/neruda12.html>. “
Pablo Neruda.” Books and Writers. 1 May 2006. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/neruda.htm.
“Pablo Neruda.” Wikipedia. 1 May 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda.
Schade, George D. “Pablo Neruda.” Latin American Writers 1969: 1001-1018. 2 May 2006 http://galenet.galegroup.com.

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